1987] Henry & Busker — Green lacewings 225 
single-mating reproductive potentials of individuals of those species, 
because other experiments described elsewhere in this paper indicate 
that female lacewings do not store appreciable quantities of sperm 
from one mating to another. Certain field-caught individuals within 
each species were remarkably fecund, especially considering that 
none was re-mated after capture. For example, some females of C. 
oculata and C. rufilabris oviposited more than 1000 fertilized eggs, 
while one female each of C. harrisii and C. downesi nearly matched 
that level (Figs. 1, 3, Table 2). Except for slightly higher early rates 
of egg-laying by C. oculata, the overall patterns shown are quite 
similar in all of the above species, and in fact are much the same as 
that seen in monogamous C. plorabunda raised in the laboratory 
(Fig. 2). The egg production by all once-mated females of all species, 
whether laboratory-reared or field-captured, is summarized in 
Table 2. 
Egg Counts: Continuously Re-mated Females. 
The C. plorabunda and C. downesi females mated 1-6 times, the 
former species averaging a total of 780 eggs and the latter 769 
(Tables 1, 3, and 4). Both species averaged two matings over an 
individual’s lifespan. Oviposition spanned a mean of 64 days in 
C. plorabunda and 53 days in C. downesi, but the high variance 
indicates no significant interspecific difference. 
Lifetime patterns of egg-laying, sexual receptivity, and mating 
varied considerably among individuals of both species. Some 
females produced consistently high numbers of eggs for prolonged 
periods from their first fertilization, without ever recovering sexual 
receptivity or re-mating. Examples of this pattern can be seen in 
both C. plorabunda (86-4, Fig. 2) and C. downesi (FLD1, Fig. 3). 
More commonly, a female became sexually receptive and re-mated 
after a shorter time, just as her egg productivity began to dip (Figs. 
2, 3, Table 5). If immediately re-fertilized, such individuals ovipos- 
ited large numbers of eggs again and receptivity disappeared, but 
without re-mating egg production soon ceased, suggesting sperm 
depletion. A third, rare subset of individuals recovered sexual recep- 
tivity many days before their egg productivity declined, as seen in 
females E (C. plorabunda) and B and E (C. downesi) in Table 5. 
Actually, receptivity in such insects waxed and waned rather errati- 
cally, and none succeeded in re-mating until egg production truly 
diminished. 
